Chapter 19
Hiroshi Sato enters the private quarters of Amon who is hovering over a desk with a well detailed map of republic City with the Lieutenant, whispering last minute alterations to their plan of attack on the benders. The genius waits until Amon finishes speaking with his right hand man before addressing his superior.
He bows, "Amon, eveyrhting has been carried out as you've asked. Mecha Tanks have been placed in key sections of the city ready to be manned and used for the assault. All weapons are fully operational and operating at 100% capacity."
"Very good, you've all done very well… though I sense there is more to this visit than just updating me." Amon surmises correctly.
Hiroshi shuffles anxiously, "Well sir… it's two things really. Why try to have that CSI killed? Yes he is traitor to our cause but I don't see any reason why we had to take his life."
"I understand your reservations concerning the actions we had to take but know that I did it with a heavy heart. But it was necessary."
"Forgive me for asking but how so?" Hiroshi wonders.
"We were informed by our informant in the municipal building that he was investigating you and your company estates. And upon further investigation he stole key reports that pointed him to your involvement in our cause. He was that led the benders to your secret laboratory ahead of schedule."
Hiroshi is taken aback, "I- I had no idea. I thought I hid my tracks well, it was all supposed to be air tight!"
"Do not fret my friend, even I was not expecting this. But this young man proved to be the one thing we didn't expect the benders to be… clever. And you of all people should know how dangerous that can be."
Sato starts to stroke his beard. "Yes you are right." He can't help but admire this young man's intelligence, it took nothing short of genius and determination to be able to find a lead that Hiroshi worked so hard to bury. If only they had a chance to show him the truth of the cause and bring him into their fold. Why he could've even become Sato's own successor! But alas, it was better to prevent such an advantage from falling into the hands of those filthy benders.
Amon breaks the older man out of his train of thought, "What was the concern you had?"
"… The Red Spirit."
"What of him?"
"I saw him firsthand… he was incredible. His speed, his grace, his ferocity. He defeated many of my mecha tanks before they even landed a hit on him. Some with his barehands!"
Amon raises his hand to silence his follower, "Do not fear the vigilante. I already spoke with the Lieutenant on what to do should we come across him. He will be after me. And when he does find me, I will make sure that the armor you built will accomplish the mission it was made for." Amon vows darkly.
The ringing sound in his ears is intense enough to rouse Karnak from his unconsciousness. His eyes slowly open and the blurriness quickly subsides. He checks his surroundings and sees that he's not in his apartment building anymore but must've been dragged out and placed on a gurney. He sees that the firefighters have arrived and the fire from the resulting explosion from his apartment seems to be under control. A shadow comes over his face and he looks up and locks eyes with Tenzin of all people. The airbending master is trying to talk to him but he can't make out the words yet. Karnak tells him to wait as the ringing slowly fades and his hearing returns to normal.
"Ok I think you can talk to me."
"How're you doing?"
He shrugs, "about as well as I can be after taking an explosion to the face."
A few seconds pass before he asks, "did anyone?"
"no, thank heavens no one has died. Though there was a few injured, nothing was life threatening."
"Thank god." Karnak says laying back down on the gurney in relief.
"I'm not dumb enough to think that you caused the explosion so I'll ask you, what might've caused it?" tenzin inquires.
Karnak thinks back,"As soon as I opened the door I heard a small click and then boom. I'm guessing someone tried to whack me."
"Any idea who? Could it be that someone," he looks around before whispering, "Someone or even the Equalists might've found out who you are?"
He shrugs, "It's highly unlikely that anyone's figured out who I am."
"how can you be so sure."
"I've spent a lifetime covering my tracks I know how to keep anyone from finding out my secrets."
"And yet Lin is aware of your true identity." He scolds.
But Karnak isn't gonna relent, "She's only suspicious and she has no way of proving out."
Tenzin takes a calming breath before letting it go. "There's no point in arguing about this just give yourself some time to recuperate—"
"No I gotta get back out there."
"Are you insane?! You've just survived an assassination attempt, you're still bleeding and judging by how your pupils aren't dilated I suspect you must at least have a concussion. You need time to rest and let yourself heal!"
"I heal quick remember? Besides engh, I'm fine I've dealt with worse."
"That was then, this is now and right now you need rest!"
"Since when do you care?"
Tenzin levels his eyes with Karnak's, "I told you that I would help you. That also means your health."
Karnak doesn't betray any emotion. "fine. I'll wait until tonight. I should be fully healed by then."
Tenzin is about to leave when he decides to do something uncharacteristic of him at least when it involves Karnak. "How about you come to the island?"
"Excuse me?"
"Come to the island, you don't have any place to stay in the meantime and we can at least give you a warm meal."
"Tenzin I don't know…"
"If only so that I can keep an eye on you."
Against Karnak's better judgment, " alright fine."
Air Temple Island
The pair climb the stairs leading to the main courtyard of Air Temple Island. The moment they reach the top Tenzin Is quickly overwhelemed by his airbender children.
"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Look at the new airbending move I can do!" Yells Meelo Just before he farts a airbending bubble into an air-scooter and proceeds to circle both men.
A horrid stench quickly fills the air between the two and Karnak had the good sense to plug his nose, though Tenizn had no such luck and quickly gags.
"Meelo," he whispers weakly, "Maybe you can show me some other time! Can you please check to see if your mother has finished preparing lunch for us?"
"She's all done, mom sent me to tell you before Meelo decided to tag along!" Jinora confirms while she opens up a new book to read.
Suddenly the upside down smiling face of Ikki takes over Karnak's vision as she begins pestering him with questions.
"Hey you're that strange guy that visits dad sometimes? What's your name? Where'd you come from? How come you're so big? How many calories do you have intake daily in order to keep muscle mass?"
The young assassin blinks wide eyed, his mind just barely able to catch all of the rapid fire questions. Ikki opens her mouth to begin another set of questions but the pair are thankfully saved by the timely arrival of Pema.
"Ikki no interrogating our guest, we want him to feel welcomed. You can ask him your questions as soon as we finish lunch!"
She groans but still listens to her mothers directions. Pema leads everyone to the dining room and the food is all set for everyone to dig in.
Karnak fixes his plate after politely waiting for everyone else to get their sand digs in to the vegetarian meal. He does have to admit it tastes pretty good!
Pema strikes up conversation by asking,"So Karnak, is it rude of me to ask why look like you've been trampled by porcu-hog?"
"Yea why do you smell like burnt barbecue!" Meelo seconds.
"Meelo!" Tenzin admonishes.
Karnak snickers, "It's alright. I actually survived an assassination attempt. Someone blew up my apartment building cause of my investigations."
Everyone save Tenzin are taken aback by the news, with Jinora inquiring, "Dad does that mean someone else is gonna try to blow us up?"
"No heavens no!"
"Yea no one knows I'm even here, besides I'm not planning on staying long, I'm just here for lunch." Karnak explains.
"Oh nonsense, you can stay here as long as you need!" Pema explains.
Tenzin is about to say something but is stopped by Pema, "I mean why else would you be invited here?" she says while giving him a pointed look.
Tenzin sheepishly relents.
"Thank you but I don't ant to be that much of a burden. Besides I'm sure the two of you have enough on your plate having to deal with 3 kids that can airbend no less."
Both parents seem to age significantly when they're reminded of that. "don't even get me started." Pema says with a pained chuckle.
She pats her pregnant stomach, "why I'm hoping this one will take after his mother for once!"
"If he doesn't I'm sure Tenzin will give you a few nights off from the kids by taking care of them himself, am I right?"
Tenzin shudders fearfully, "Please don't give her any ideas!"
His wife gives him a malicious look while rubbing her chin sinisterly. "that actually seems like a pretty good form of payback!"
Everyone shares a laugh as Tenzin begins to sweat from the thought of dealing with the kids alone. At that moment, one of the Air Acolytes come in and bow down to Tenzin and Pema.
"I'm sorry to interrupt but it seems that the new guests have arrived!"
"Oh thank the spirits!" Tenzin says before excusing himself quickly from the table with the children following suit.
"Aren't you gonna go say hi?"
"I don't even know who's coming here."Karnak answers.
"Korra asked us to allow her friend sot stay on the island since her friend Asami's father…"
"I get it. Makes sense, she did say they would stay with Asami since the probending debacle."
Pema's ears perked. "Oh, so you've met Korra?"
"A few times. Here let me help you out." Karnak offers and helps Pema clean the dining table.
"So what do you think?"
"She's… something alright. Got a strong personality that's for sure."
Pema wiggles her eyebrows, "Anything else."
The ex-assassin gives her a deadpan look, "No. I told Tenzin I didn't anything to do with her to be honest."
Now Pema's confused. "Why's that?"
Karnak chuckles humorlessly, "Have you met me? I was one of the people that tried to ruin her life. Along with all the others I've ruined… or taken."
The Motherly instincts in Pema started to come out and she made the young man face her. "Yes I have met you and though you're a little rough around the edges I don't see a boy who ruins lives, but a man who's trying to help the lives of others. I see a man with a good heart. You just have a…colorful way of bringing it out."
"Don't beat around the bush, I've killed people."
"Yes you have and in no way am I minimizing that. But you have to accept what you've done and what was done to you. And then you have to let yourself move on. Grow, meet people. Or else you'll always be alone and empty inside… is that what you want?"
"…No. no I don't." Karnak looks down at his feet. "But I don't know how to do that."
"I have faith you will. And I think a step in the right direction would be let people in. I'm not saying to get in a relationship with her, but Korra and you have a lot more in common than you realize."
Karnak gives her a sharp look, "In what regard?"
"You've both had extremely unconventional childhoods that have left you both with some issues to work through and yet both of you are strong, brave, and willing to lay down your lives for the greater good. But the differences between you two I think balance out each others strengths and weaknesses."
As Kaarnak ponders this, the very subject of their conversation decides to burst in.
"who's calling who weak?" Korra asks. Her eyes land on Karnak and she can't help but quip,
"Who let the Raggedy Man in?"
Pema rolls her eyes, "Don't be rude Korra." She admonishes.
"Isn't it more rude to be so during over the table we eat on?" she retorts.
Karnak grosses his arms over his muscled chest. "If you must know I took an explosion to the face."
Korra's jaw drops and she blushes, "I am so so sorry! I-I-I-I had idea!"
Pema giggles, "See what I mean?"
The two share a small laugh while Korra glowers, "I can't help but feel like you guys are laughing at me."
"More like with you." Karnak says with a smile.
Korra crosses her arms and cocks a hip "How? When I'm not even smiling?"
"… Cause we were laughing at you." Karnak relents with a shit eating smirk.
Tenzin enters the kitchen at that moment, "Sorry to interrupt. Beifong's replacement, Saikhan, is going to be inducted as the New Chief of Police later. I think we should both be there Korra."
The avatars expression saddens for a moment at the tought of the earthbender leaving her job. "Yea you're right. I'll see you around Pema. Raggedy Man."
"Don't call me that."
She chuckles as she starts to head out. "You not wanting me to do so will only make me do it more!"
Tenzin raises an eyebrow but decides not to comment on that, instead he says, "You can stay here a little longer if you would like."
But Kanrak refuses, "I should start heading out. Lin is expecting me to drop by soon and my concussion is healed for the most part."
Tenzin nods his head in relief, he wasn't exactly keen on leaving Karnak alone with his family. "Just be careful."
Lin sputters as water is splashed onto her face. She bolts upright, ready to earthbend the hell out of the attacker but sees the Red Spirit standing in front of her. Checking the clock she sees that it's 1:00 am.
"What the fuck was that about?!" She said clearly angry.
"It's time for you to get to work. You said you wanted to get to Amon remember?" He sets the now empty bucket down next to her bed and throws a towel. Catching it, Lin dries herself off as the Red Spirit walks back into the room holding a steaming cup.
"Drink this, it'll help with the pain." Lin takes it and sniffs it but instantly gags. "Ugh what is this?"
"An ancient remedy, it'll dull the pain and help you heal quicker."
Lin bucks up and chugs the whole thing, it tasted very rancid and tangy but she managed to avoid throwing up. She immediately felt it work as her torso stopped aching and she felt rejuvenated.
"That stuff is amazing, what the hell's in it?"
"Jasmine tea leaves, bumble-fly sap, eye of a sabre cat, heart of a wolfbat, and other herbs."
"… I regret asking." She deadpans.
"How did you even get in? How'd you know where I live?"
She gingerly moves herself off the bed and does a quick mobility test to make sure she doesn't feel anymore soreness. Once satisfied she armors herself, "So I assume you didn't wake me this early for nothing. You got a lead?"
Nodding; " I visited the weasel that had tried to feed you the false information on Cabbage Corp and squeezed out a possible location for prisoners that Amon may be holding your metalbenders in." He walks by her but Lin grabs his shoulder, stopping him; " He was highly guarded in our holding cell in the middle of our precinct how did you manage to get in?"
"I have my ways, none your subordinates were hurt or even knew of my presence."
"Her eyes narrow, "You didn't kill or maim him did you?"
"Of course not." He shrugs off her hand and walks to the window. Just as he goes through, he turns back to her, " He is however dangling upside down in his cell. The next round of guards should have found him by now though." With that he left. I think I'm already regretting this.
But the Former Chief doesn't waste time and follows the Red Spirit to the rooftops. "So what's the deal here? Some mecha tanks about to attack? Or are they going to set up a blockade somewhere."
"In a way. You see the Equalists have been shipping the Mecha tanks to strategic areas of the city. One such area is directly beneath the Republic City municipal Building. Though I will admit, I don't know if they will be holding any prisoners there."
"It's worth a shot." Lin declares.
The Red Spirit aims his gauntlet and shoots it to a nearby building, he turns to look at lin; " Follow my lead" and takes off. Lin scrambles to quickly rappel up with her cable and follows the Red Spirit who seamlessly and gracefully flips and jumps and runs over the concrete terrain that is Republic City. Following him proves to be a challenge as the admittedly older chief starts to breath a little heavy from all the constant movement. This punks fast I'll give him that. But I'm not letting that smug little bastard show me up.
Pushing herself with renewed vigor, she manages to catch up and stay there for another 30 minutes. Finally the pair reach the Municipal building. The Red Spirit surveys the area to make sure the coast is clear before nodding to Lin that it's safe to go down. Slowly they descend down the building to street level. Without wasting a second, Lin opens one shoe and slams her barefoot on the ground to use her seismic sense to scope out the layout. "There's a tunnel directly beneath us with no sign of any Equalist nearby. I think it's safe to enter."
With that she Earthbends a hole in the ground and they both jump down with Lin closing it as they pass through. Though Karnk lands silently, Lin's metallic armor causes a loud clang to ring through the tunnels. "Very subtle chief, I wouldn't be surprised if the fire lord didn't hear that."
"Shut up and get to work you vigilante scum."
"Quite hypocritical to say now chief."
Growling she stomps into the tunnel. After walking for quite some they hear the sound of an approaching vehicle and they hide out sight. Passing by them is a truck which they quickly jump in from the back and right into a group of surprised Equalists. Everyone stares at each other in an awkward silence.
"…Gentlemen."
The truck slows down as it gets to an underground hideout for the Equalists and backs up into a bay door. A trio of Equalists walk up to the driver with the middle, who seems to be the leader, addressing her; " Had any problems with the prisoners?"
"None whatsoever. They should be cleansed of their filth by now."
"Good, now lets lock up and call it night, what's taking your guys so long to get out."
"Don't know nor do I want to. Spirits knows what that sausage fest is up."
Chuckling, the group marches towards the back of the truck and open up and immediately attacked by the chief and the Red Spirit. Lin jumps out and ensnares two of them with her cables and twirls them around and throws them both into the driver. The vigilante quickly kick one of them and knocks the rest out with single punches and blocks the oncoming kick from the Equalist and throws him into the air and is slammed onto the ground by Lin. The Red Spirit quickly hog ties them and store them in the back of the truck and the pair stealthily walk deeper into the facility.
"Do you think we'll find Amon down here? Or my men?" She whispers.
"Doubtful on finding Amon, but we could find your men down here, scope out the area again and see if you can give us a heads up on anyone else."
Nodding, She slams her foot into the ground again. After a few moments she gasps and stops the Red Spirit. "This place is crawling with equalists, but more importantly they have some prisoners but they're taking them somewhere else."
"We need to move quickly then." Breaking out into a sprint, the both run down the halls with Lin leading since she is the one who knows where to go. They, of course are intercepted by other equalists but all are all incapacitated by a well thrown black powder bomb that lands in the middle of the group, exploding with a concussive force that knocks them all out. They finally make it to the other side of the facility where they witness the prisoners, who turn out to be Lin's metalbenders, be loaded up into trucks. One of them spots her and shouts;
"Chief!" Stupidly alerting the small army of metal benders to their presence.
"Goddammit Lin! Haven't you taught your men to keep their mouths shut!?" He says as he takes out 4 shurikens and throws them all with perfect accuracy to the prisoners restraints, releasing them and allowing them to fight. All hell breaks loose as the room quickly descends into chaos.
Lin and Karnak work as a team to make their way over to the prisoners and take care of the seemingly endless barrage of attackers. Karnak savagely knocks down Equalists left and right as Lin earthbends columns that knock the thugs off their feet or slams them into the walls. The prisoners try to hold their own but the effects of the chi blocking and electric attacks have visibly taken their toll on them since most of their attacks are sluggish and don't even really have much power in them. Seeing this, most of the Equalist start attacking them in the hopes to regain control over the situation. Not giving up the vigilante breaks out into a sprint and slides under a rather large equalists, and kicks both his knees, shattering them. He axe kicks the thug into submission from the ground then gets up and twirls out the way of the electrified bolas thrown at him.
He is assaulted by a multitude of punches and kicks but he dodges and blocks them all and slips in attacks in every opening he finds, making the amount of opponents he's facing dwindle little by little. He glances over to lin, who is fairing well, her anger fueling her. She's earthbending blocks of the columns she brought up and sends them all to her attackers. This slows her down enough to surround her. But she was waiting for that to happen. Just as they closed in on her, she slams both hands down on the ground and greats a shockwave that throws them all back a few feet. The Red Spirit runs over to her side and brutally stomps on each one he passes by to knock them out for good measure.
Lin in dismay sees that her metalbenders have been defeated and have been loaded up into another truck which is starting to pull away in the midst of their battle. By now almost all their attackers are done. The few that are awake started running in the opposite direction. Lin rappels herself into the air to cover more ground but just as she lands she is hit full force by a just assembled mecha tank. She's thrown head over heels into the air but Karnak narrowly catches her and sets her onto the ground behind one of the many satomobiles. Thinking quick he grabs a hold of the underside of the car and lifts it onto its side just in time to intercept the electrified claw that shoots out from the Mech. "Can you stand?"
"Don't treat me like some rookie, I'm fine, just start hitting it back!"
Don't need to tell me twice. He tucks and rolls into the open and a smoke bomb right into the glass, impeding the pilots vision. He quickly closes in as Lin limps behind mecha. Once in position, she earthbends a huge chunk of earth and fashions it into a spear. Karnak is already upon the tank and jumps and kicks the mecha from it's glass with enough force to push it off balance. It falls backwards onto the spear, which pierces right into the engine of the tank, damaging it beyond repair. The exertion plus the injuries takes it's toll on Lin though and she loses what little strength she has left as her injuries have flared up and worsened after the hit she took from the tank and falls onto the ground.
The morning suns rays sting Lin's eyes, waking her from her dreamless sleep. At first she doesn't recognize her surroundings until the memories flood back. Their infiltration. Her failed attempt of locating Amon and getting her cops back. Anger and shame wash over her. How could she have let this happen? She's the chief of police for crying out loud. Or at least… I was. She tries to sit up but pain breaks out from her arm and she hisses from the pain.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
She turns her head to see the Red Spirit standing with another cup of steaming tea.
"We failed."
He blinks then hands her the cup, which she graciously takes and drinks without complaint.
"It wasn't a total failure. We were able to find a hidden base. And after getting you out of danger I returned to the base and destroyed the remaining tanks that were there so, we at least hampered them somewhat."
"But my men. Amon. We couldn't find them. And with a man as resourceful as Hiroshi he'll definitely have many other hiding places."
"I know I was just trying to make you feel better."
She pauses for a minute before she asks; "Did you?—"
"No, I didn't kill anyone. Though that did make things a little more difficult."
"I bet." She visibly relaxes, but then asks another question; "Why are you doing this?"
"To take down Amon."
"yes but Why? Why be a vigilante? Why go out every day knowing that you're alone against the world. More than half the city wants you dead now, the police are always after you. Even the people you saved joined up with the same madmen that still want to kill you. They've turned their backs on you. Why struggle? "
For a long time nothing is said. After what seems like ages, he finally speaks; "Because no one else will."
Lin can't help but feel like there is more to this story and this man than she originally thought. With that, he stands up and leaves the apartment. Lin is left alone to gather her thoughts on the growing mystery that is the man under the Red Mask.
Authors Note: I just wanted to clear something up for anyone who may be wondering, but I have intentionally made Karnak and Korra interact very little through out this. The reason why is because right now other than running into each other every now and then due to their occupations, there isn;t any reason for them to see each other frequently. It won't stay that way for too long though. Once Korra becomes aware of Karnak's other identity, they'll be forced to be in each others space more frequently. And Once season 1's arc is done i have an adventure planned that takes place between season1 and 2 that will have Korra and Karnak working together and to start to build the foundation of their friendship. So for everyone reading this, please hold on cause I'm trying to make this go as organically as i can. Thank you!
Thank you to RainfallMyth for reviewing my story! Thank you for your kind words, it's been my main goal to keep everyone as in character as i can make them though i can't promise i will be successful all the time, fair warning.